‘How long have you been there?’ Ruan asked.
‘Long enough.’ Luke glared at them all.
‘You’d both better come in.’ Ruan stepped back as they entered, closing the door behind them. Facing Luke calmly, he said, ‘This is not the way it should have happened.’
‘Damned right it isn’t,’ Luke growled. ‘How could you …’ His gaze landed on each of them in turn, including Cat. ‘All of you knew. You kept it from me. And as for you, Cat …’ He shook his head and looked away, unable, it seemed, to bear the sight of her. Moments ago they had been planning a new beginning together. Now it appeared it was over. She watched helplessly as he turned to leave.
It was Em, small and fearless, who stepped in front of him, barring the door. ‘You need to stay,’ she told him. ‘Painful though it may be, this has to be sorted out once and for all.’ Her voice was quiet but there was no mistaking her firm tone. Cat saw Luke hesitate, rub his face and nod silently before moving back into the room. She watched as he joined Em, his face still tight and angry.
‘You,’ Em pointed at Gareth who was currently leaning against one of the chairs for support, ‘you’ve done enough damage. Get out.’
The room fell silent as he growled out an angry response before leaving, slamming the door behind him.
‘Now then.’ Em turned to them all. ‘I think it would be a good idea if we Trevelyans left. Étienne and Luke need some privacy. Come along.’ She waved her hand towards the door.
No one argued, not even Ruan. They simply turned and followed her out of the room. This was a new side to Em, one that nobody had ever seen before; a bit of a scary side too, Cat thought, as she followed her father and Nathan out into the corridor. A small hand suddenly captured hers as Em came alongside her. ‘It will be fine,’ she said gently, all signs of her former assertiveness gone as she gave Cat’s fingers a comforting squeeze. ‘Étienne is a good man. I’m sure he’ll win Luke round.’
‘I hope so,’ Cat replied with a confidence she didn’t feel. She knew Étienne would tell Luke the whole truth. How he would react would be another matter.
As Ruan led them back to the banqueting suite, one question niggled constantly at her. Unable to stay quiet any longer she pulled her father to a gentle halt, leaving Nathan to continue back to the party with Em.
‘Did you know about Étienne and Luke?’ she asked, keen to know whether he had been aware of their arrangement.
‘No. Like everyone else, I thought Scott was his father. Apparently Étienne was also unaware until after Selina’s death. Do you remember the time he visited with Isabella? You were about twelve years old?’
Cat nodded.
‘Well, that was when he first met Luke. Étienne immediately told Gareth and set up monthly payments to support him. But it was a private arrangement between the two of them. I had no idea until everything blew up this evening.’
Cat nodded. ‘Thank you,’ she said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug.
‘Would you have thought less of me if I had?’ he asked as they broke apart.
‘I don’t know, Dad.’ She shook her head then after some thought said, ‘I guess not. After all, it wasn’t your secret to tell, was it?’
‘Truthfully, I’m glad I didn’t know. I would have found it a heavy burden, especially once you started seeing Luke. By the way, are you two back together again?’
‘We were, but after this I’m not sure he’ll want to see me again. He seems to think I was part of the conspiracy.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Ruan patted her shoulder. ‘I’m sure Étienne will put him right. Now come on, let’s get back to the party.’
After Cat and the others had left the room, Luke took a seat and waited for Étienne to make the first move. He was, after all, the one who was about to reveal the circumstances that led up to his birth. Étienne had moved over to the window and now stood with his back to Luke, hands in the pockets of his trousers. There was a stillness about him as if he was mulling over his words, thinking of the best way to begin to explain what had happened all those years ago. Luke was amazed by Emelia Trevelyan’s actions. Not many men he knew would be able to tackle GarethHunter like that, let alone a septuagenarian. She was a real battler and even if everyone else appeared to have lied to him, he knew at least he could still count on her.
He watched his father step away from the window. Father? He turned the word over in his mind. Ross Carrack had been the only man to own that title until his memorial service, when he’d caught the first hint of the mystery that surrounded his birth. During those years he had fantasised about Scott Stevens. Growing up in Carrenporth, he wondered if his father would ever return to the village. In his teenage imagination Scott would now be a senior mechanic with one of the F1 racing teams, maybe based somewhere in the UK or even travelling to Grand Prix circuits around the globe. And all the time it wasn’t him, it was the last person he would ever have suspected: Étienne Di Marco. He could see absolutely nothing of himself in this dark, enigmatic Italian, but then he remembered Cat’s words as he and Em had reached the partially open doorway. Something about someone in a painting who was so much like him.
He had clear memories of gazing down from his bedroom window as Étienne and his beautiful wife arrived with the Trevelyans for some Hunter organised social event when they visited the UK. The way they were, smiling together, spoke volumes about his feelings for this tall, elegant woman. His mother had been so different. Young, unsophisticated. Had she been a summer fling gone wrong? Certainly, she was nothing like the stunning Isabella. But somehow he could not imagine Étienne deliberately taking advantage of her. He looked up as he settled himself opposite.
Pressing his palms together, fingers pushing gently against his lips, Étienne raised his dark eyes to Luke. ‘Can I just say before we begin,’ he said quietly, ‘that I loved your mother very much. It broke my heart to have to leave her and I pray once you hear what happened you will perhaps understand, and can Idare hope …’ his eyes met Luke’s once more ‘… you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me?’
‘I think I need to hear what you have to say first.’ Luke’s voice was low and calm. Em had been right. Leaving wasn’t the answer. After accidentally walking in on a conversation he shouldn’t have heard he needed to hear the whole story, however upsetting, in order to close the door on this mystery. But there was absolutely no way forgiveness would come automatically.
‘That is a fair comment,’ Étienne replied with an accepting nod. Settling himself back in his chair, he contemplated the journey they were both about to embark on.
‘As you know,’ he began, ‘Ruan and I were at university together. After our final year his parents invited me to stay with them here at the hotel. It was to be our last summer of freedom before we entered our family businesses.’ He gave a wistful smile. ‘At the time I was already engaged to Isabella Baccari and there were plans we would marry the following spring. Not a love match, more a merging of two important hotel dynasties. Ah, I see your worried look.’ He waved a hand at Luke. ‘It is not so bad. I had known Isabella for many years. We were great friends. As in these kinds of matches love comes later. As it did with us.’
‘I saw her when you came to Clyffe House,’ Luke said. ‘I must have been fourteen or fifteen at the time. She was very beautiful.’
‘She was,’ Étienne agreed, pausing for a moment as if touched by the memory before resuming his story. ‘Anyway, Ruan introduced me to Gareth and the three of us spent the summer together – at parties, clubs, beach barbeques. I even learned to surf. It was such a different life from my own in Italy. So free, quite hedonistic, in fact. Selina was seventeen at the time. She often accompanied us; called us her Boys of Summer after some song that was popular at the time. Your grandfather was an important businessman. He and your grandmother werealways out attending some social event, sometimes even staying away overnight. Although they did not allow your mother to have fashionable clothes they took little interest in what she did or where she went. Gareth was expected to supervise her, which meant, of course, she did as she pleased. She had a cave high off the beach where she kept her other clothes.’
